The FAF AFAP Digest

Fort Stretching Tips

As I get older, stretching and staying flexible have seemed to increase in importance. Stretching can speed recovery, help remove lactic acid build up and help the muscles generate force. I believe stretching also helps keep me more injury free and prevents tightness from negatively impacting performance. When I stretch on my own, I combine yoga poses and stretches that focus principally on stretching the back, chest, hips and legs. I rarely stretch the shoulders, so as to prevent further loosening of my loosey goosey shoulder tendons. I do these after exercising and hold the stretches for 30 seconds. I'm also a fan of the P90X stretching DVD. Here are my top 20 stretches:

Sit on the ground with your legs crossed. Lift your right leg and cross it over the left, which should remain bent. Hug the right leg to your chest and twist the trunk of your body to look over your right shoulder. Change legs and repeat (i.e. looking over your left shoulder).

Begin on all fours, hands directly under your shoulders and knees directly under your hips.
Inhale as you drop tummy towards the floor and look up over your head. Exhale as you bring your tummy back up, rounding your back as you tuck your chin in and tuck your tailbone in.

Sit on floor with knees bent and feet on the floor. Place arms under knees grabbing the opposite elbow. Pull back with your back. This is a good stretch for the mid back.

Knee Drops or Hip/trunk Twists:

Bring the knees up and bend them to 90 degrees, shins parallel to the floor and arms out to the sides. Contract the abs and rotate the torso to lower the legs to the right, bringing them down to the floor. Bring the knees back to center and lower to the left side.

Spinal Twist:

While lying face up on the mat, grab the right leg (straight) with the left hand. Slowly twist the leg to the left straight to the floor while keeping both shoulders on the ground. Great stretch for the glutes and back.

Hamstring Stretch:

Lie on your back and place a piece of exercise tubing (or just use your hands) around the bottom of one of your feet. Pull the tubing and raise your leg at the same time until a comfortable stretch is felt. You can also pull the leg to the floor (left leg to the left side and right leg to the right side) to open up the hips.

Piriformis Stretch:

Lying on your back, cross your legs just as you might while sitting in a chair. Grasping the "under" leg with both hands, pull the knee toward your chest until you feel the stretch in your buttocks and hips.

External Hip Rotation Stretch:

Sit down with knees bent. Rest one ankle on the opposite thigh. Lean forward pushing with hands.

Adductor Stretch:

Sit up on the floor with legs spread. Reach forward with hands, trying to put chest on the floor. You can also bend to the right and to the left in this position to stretch the oblique muscles.

Kenpo Quad Stretch:

Lay on your stomach. Grab your left heel with your left hand and stretch. Do the other side. You can also do this laying on your side. To make it harder and also stretch the glutes a la P90X, tuck one knee under and then reach back for the heel. Try to place your hands on the floor in front of you.

Gastroc (back of the calf) Stretch:

Lean against a wall or other stationary object, both palms against the object. The leg you want to stretch is back, several feet from the wall, your heel firmly positioned on the floor. Your other leg is flexed about halfway between your back leg and the wall. Start with your back straight and gradually lunge forward until you feel the stretch in your calf. Keep your back foot straight and angled 90 degrees from the wall.

Groin Stretch:

Seated, put the soles of your feet together. With your elbows on the inside of your knees, gradually lean forward with a straight back and gently press your knees toward the ground.

Forearm Stretch:

Get on all fours. Place hands on floor with fingers pointing back to your knees. Gently pull back, stretching forearms.

I LOVE the P90 stetching video. Definitely one of my favorites. I really need to do it more often.

It is awesome! Time consuming though. Sometimes I will fast forward through a couple of the exercises that I don't do (like the shoulder stretches). I didn't list the standing separate leg hamstring stretch above, but that is both a bikram and P90X stretch that is also great.

While interesting, some of the links to the stretches are no longer active (404 errors).

I am curious to know if you do all of these in one session, how long each of your stretching times are (on average) and how often you stretch in a given week.

Also, do you group certain stretches with specific training? I.E. if you are doing endurance work for a couple weeks, do you do a certain group of stretches - or a specific set when keying on sprinting?

I wrote this over two years ago. You can google to find newer links for the stretches. Ill try to update if I get a chance.

I don't do all the stretches in one session. Ideally, Id like to get one or two longer sessions of 30 minutes in per week. Often, I'll do one of these in conjunction with a recovery swim. Then, I hope to do some shorter 10-15 minute sessions. Lately, I've been completely out of my stretching routine due to the flu and general life business. But I have a long session penciled in for tomorrow!

I don't do any endurance training, so can't comment on that. Though I don't see any reason why they'd be different. A sprinter might have tighter legs, I guess.